System and method for creation of persistent patient identification

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for creating source-specific, persistent patient identifiers for healthcare service providers. One method includes accessing a record of healthcare data, wherein the record includes patient identifying information (PII) associated with one or more persons to whom the healthcare data pertains. The portions of PII included in the accessed record of healthcare data are extracted from the accessed record and encrypted. Based on one or more business rules, one or more hashed tokens are created by applying one or more hashing functions to the extracted portions of PII. A source-specific identifier is received, the source-specific identifier having been encoded in a manner specific to an organization associated with the computer system and having been encoded with reference to the one or more hashed tokens. An association is stored between the source-specific identifier and the accessed record of healthcare data.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving, at a healthcare-related source at a first location, healthcare data of a patient comprising personal identifying information (PII); 
 generating, at the healthcare-related source at the first location, one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the PII of the patient; 
 transmitting the one or more source-specific hashed tokens to a data storage location; and 
 obtaining a source-specific persistent patient identifier for the patient comprising an encrypted indexing tag, wherein the encryption of the indexing tag is based on a computing rule specific to the healthcare-related source, the computing rule based on PII extracted from the healthcare data, wherein the source-specific persistent patient identifier is used for linking the healthcare data of the patient to other healthcare data of the patient at the first location and corresponding to the one or more source-specific hashed tokens, and wherein the indexing tag is used to link deidentified healthcare data of the patient from the first location with deidentified healthcare data of the patient from one or more other locations in the data storage location, and 
 wherein only the healthcare-related source at the first location has access to the source-specific persistent patient identifier and the healthcare data of the patient at the first location. 
 
     
     
       2. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying the other healthcare data of the patient at the first location using the source-specific persistent patient identifier; 
 linking the healthcare data with the identified other healthcare data of the patient at the first location; and 
 storing the linked data at the first location. 
 
     
     
       3. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the PII of the patient comprises:
 generating deidentified data by extracting the PII of the patient from the healthcare data; and 
 encrypting the extracted PII into one or more source-specific hashed tokens using one or more source-specific hashing functions. 
 
     
     
       4. The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 appending the one or more source-specific hashed tokens to the deidentified data from which the PII was extracted; and 
 transmitting the deidentified data with the appended one or more source-specific hashed tokens to the data storage location. 
 
     
     
       5. The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein the extracted PII comprises strings, and wherein encrypting the extracted PII into one or more source-specific hashed tokens using one or more source-specific hashing functions comprises:
 aggregating the strings based on first location-specific business rules indicating a shared encryption format comprising one or more of content for combining and ordering of PII for the source-specific hashed tokens. 
 
     
     
       6. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the data storage location is a data warehouse accessible by a plurality of health-care related sources. 
     
     
       7. The computer-implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the data storage location is maintained by a third-party intermediary. 
     
     
       8. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein obtaining the source-specific persistent patient identifier comprises receiving the source-specific persistent patient identifier from the data storage location, wherein the persistent patient identifier has been identified through operations comprising:
 determining whether the one or more source-specific hashed tokens match one or more source-specific hashed tokens from other healthcare data in the data storage location sharing an encryption format; and 
 in response to determining a match, retrieving the source-specific persistent patient identifier from the data storage location. 
 
     
     
       9. The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , further comprising, in response to not determining a match, generating the source-specific patient identifier, wherein generating the source-specific patient identifier comprises:
 replacing the one or more source-specific hashed tokens with an indexing tag; and 
 encrypting the indexing tag to generate the source-specific patient identifier using one or more source-specific encryption functions. 
 
     
     
       10. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the indexing tag is used to link deidentified healthcare data of the patient from the first location with deidentified healthcare data at a second location through operations comprising:
 receiving the deidentified data comprising the one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the first location; 
 determining a corresponding indexing tag of the patient using the one or more source-specific hashed tokens; and 
 identifying deidentified data from the second location using the corresponding indexing tag. 
 
     
     
       11. The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a report comprising an analysis of the linked deidentified data for a plurality of patients at the plurality of locations, wherein the report has been generated through operations comprising:
 aggregating respective deidentified healthcare data of each of the plurality of patients from one or more locations; and 
 analyzing the aggregated data. 
 
     
     
       12. A system comprising:
 a computing device comprising:
 a memory configured to store instructions; and 
 a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, at a healthcare-related source at a first location, healthcare data of a patient comprising personal identifying information (PII); 
 generating, at the healthcare-related source at the first location, one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the PII of the patient; 
 transmitting the one or more source-specific hashed tokens to a data storage location; and 
 obtaining a source-specific persistent patient identifier for the patient comprising an encrypted indexing tag, wherein the encryption of the indexing tag is based on a computing rule specific to the healthcare-related source, the computing rule based on PII extracted from the healthcare data, wherein the source-specific persistent patient identifier is used for linking the healthcare data of the patient to other healthcare data of the patient at the first location and corresponding to the one or more source-specific hashed tokens, and wherein the indexing tag is used to link deidentified healthcare data of the patient from the first location with deidentified healthcare data of the patient from one or more other locations in the data storage location, and wherein only the healthcare-related source at the first location has access to the source-specific persistent patient identifier and the healthcare data of the patient at the first location. 
 
 
 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 identifying the other healthcare data of the patient at the first location using the source-specific persistent patient identifier; 
 linking the healthcare data with the identified other healthcare data of the patient at the first location; and 
 storing the linked data at the first location. 
 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the data storage location is a data warehouse accessible by a plurality of health-care related sources. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 12 , wherein obtaining the source-specific persistent patient identifier comprises receiving the source-specific persistent patient identifier from the data storage location, wherein the persistent patient identifier has been identified through operations comprising:
 determining whether the one or more source-specific hashed tokens match one or more source-specific hashed tokens from other healthcare data in the data storage location sharing an encryption format; and 
 in response to determining a match, retrieving the source-specific persistent patient identifier from the data storage location. 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the indexing tag is used to link deidentified healthcare data of the patient from the first location with deidentified healthcare data at a second location through operations comprising:
 receiving the deidentified data comprising the one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the first location; 
 determining a corresponding indexing tag of the patient using the one or more source-specific hashed tokens; and 
 identifying deidentified data from the second location using the corresponding indexing tag. 
 
     
     
       17. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that are executable by a processing device, and upon such execution cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, at a healthcare-related source at a first location, healthcare data of a patient comprising personal identifying information (PII); 
 generating, at the healthcare-related source at the first location, one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the personal identifying information of the patient; 
 transmitting the one or more source-specific hashed tokens to a data storage location; and 
 obtaining a source-specific persistent patient identifier for the patient comprising an encrypted indexing tag, wherein the encryption of the indexing tag is based on a computing rule specific to the healthcare-related source, the computing rule based on PII extracted from the healthcare data, wherein the source-specific persistent patient identifier is used for linking the healthcare data of the patient to other healthcare data of the patient at the first location and corresponding to the one or more source-specific hashed tokens, and wherein the indexing tag is used to link deidentified healthcare data of the patient from the first location with deidentified healthcare data of the patient from one or more other locations in the data storage location, and 
 wherein only the healthcare-related source at the first location has access to the source-specific persistent patient identifier and the healthcare data of the patient at the first location. 
 
     
     
       18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 identifying the other healthcare data of the patient at the first location using the source-specific persistent patient identifier; 
 linking the healthcare data with the identified other healthcare data of the patient at the first location; and 
 storing the linked data at the first location. 
 
     
     
       19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein obtaining the source-specific persistent patient identifier comprises receiving the source-specific persistent patient identifier from the data storage location, wherein the persistent patient identifier has been identified through operations comprising:
 determining whether the one or more source-specific hashed tokens match one or more source-specific hashed tokens from other healthcare data in the data storage location sharing an encryption format; and 
 in response to determining a match, retrieving the source-specific persistent patient identifier from the data storage location. 
 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the indexing tag is used to link deidentified healthcare data of the patient from the first location with deidentified healthcare data at a second location through operations comprising:
 receiving the deidentified data comprising the one or more source-specific hashed tokens from the first location; 
 determining a corresponding indexing tag of the patient using the one or more source-specific hashed tokens; and 
 identifying deidentified data from the second location using the corresponding indexing tag.